Alive In The World
by WING Higley
Summary: What if the television series had been nothing more than a prophetic dream Asuka had right after she met Shinji and Misato for the first time?


All characters TM & copyright 1997 by GAINAX.  
  
W*ING Higley Presents:  
Evangelion: Alive In The World  
  
*****  
The End Of Evangelion:  
  
He was choking her, anger and hatred plain in his eyes. He wanted her to die, she had to die.  
  
  
But she was already dead, wasn't she? She had felt her eye explode, felt her arm shred, felt a dozen spears pierce her body and end her pathetic existence.  
  
  
No, she had been dead. But he had willed her back to life. He had been given the choice to resurrect the one person whom he needed more than anyone else, and Shinji had chosen her.  
  
  
Shinji had chosen Asuka Langley-Sohryu. Not Misato, not Rei, not Kaworu. He had chosen her. And now he was killing her again.  
  
  
She stared at him. There was so much pain in his eyes. Calmly, she placed her hand on his cheek. It was time to end the pain.  
  
  
He continued choking her, oblivious to this offer of love. She slowly caressed his face, not caring whether or not she died.   
  
  
Finally, he took notice. He slowly released his grasp on her neck and stared at his hands in horror. And then, he began to cry.  
  
  
"I feel sick..." And then everything went white....  
  
*****  
  
Asuka was floating now. Or at least it felt like she was floating. Everything was pitch black.   
  
  
"Mama?"  
  
  
"I am hear, my child." Came a disembodied voice from beyond the darkness.  
  
  
"Mama, you are here!" Asuka shouted in happiness.  
  
  
"Of course, my daughter. I have always been here." The younger girl swallowed. "What I just saw...."  
  
  
"Was a vision of the future, yes. It is how things will turn out if you continue to follow your present course."  
  
  
A feeling of horror began to creep down Asuka's neck. "The mind rape, the third impact, the murder of Misato....my treatment of Shinji?"  
  
  
"Are all destined to happen," her mother finished.  
  
  
"Is...is there nothing I can do to prevent it?" Asuka asked helplessly.  
  
  
"I would not have shown you all of this if you did not have the power to change it. But to do so, you will have to change as well. You cannot continue to be the selfish child I have watched you become in the years since my death."  
  
  
Shame filled Asuka. "I'm sorry, mama. I...I miss you so much...."  
  
  
"I know, my daughter. It is my fault that things have turned out this way. I thought suicide was an escape, and in my own selfishness failed to see what it would do to you."  
  
  
Asuka felt something begin to pull at her. "Mama, what's happening?"   
  
"Our time here is short. Soon you must return to the real world, and this will all seem like some strange dream."  
  
  
"NO! Mama, I don't want to lose you again!"  
  
  
"You will not lose me, child. Know that I will always be with you, always protecting you in Unit-02. That much knowledge you will carry with you to the waking world, along with the knowledge that you must change if you are to set things right."   
  
Asuka felt herself begin to be fully pulled away, back into consciousness. "I will, mama. I promise, I will change!"  
  
  
"Goodbye, my daughter. I love you so much...." the voice said as it faded.  
  
  
"I love you too, mama...."  
  
*****  
  
Episode 8: Asuka Strikes!  
  
  
Asuka gasped as she awoke. She stared blurry-eyed at her surroundings She was sitting upright in a hospital gurney. Shinji was there, as were Misato and a nurse.   
  
  
"Wh-where am I?" she managed to choke out.  
  
  
"Oh, thank god you're alright," Misato said in relief. "You're in the sick bay of the aircraft carrier." She frowned. "You were in a light-coma for a few hours."   
  
"What happened?" Asuka breathed.  
  
  
Shinji answered. "After the two battleships blew up the Angel, there was some kind of power surge. You blacked out and I couldn't wake you." Asuka slowly realized that there were tears in Shinji's eyes.  
  
  
Asuka stared at Shinji and Misato in confusion. Power surge? But she had been with...who had she been with? Asuka tried to remember the strange dream she had had, but all that came to mind were a series of images: a beach, pale-skinned teenagers, her mother hanging from a closet coat rack, kissing Shinji, Shinji telling her she needed him.   
  
  
Asuka Langley-Sohryu shook her head in frustration. Try as she might, she could not remember all the bits and pieces of her dream, save for the fact that something was terribly wrong with NERV and it's hierarchy, and that her mother was not truly dead.  
  
  
"Asuka," Misato asked, "is everything alright?"  
  
  
Asuka waved her off. "I'll be fine, Misato. I just need some time."  
  
  
*****  
  
Shinji lay curled in a fetal position with his face towards the wall, trying to forget about the events of the past day, losing himself in the peaceful rhythms provided by his DAT. As the boat sailed through the night, Shinji tried to forget about Asuka and her harsh treatment of him, and tried to forget how she had blacked out after the power surge.  
  
  
He was mildly surprised by the sudden shaft of light that appeared in the darkened room. Stopping the tape and rolling over, he was surprised to see Asuka standing there, once again wearing her yellow sun dress.  
  
  
"Mind if I come in?"  
  
  
He nodded silently.  
  
  
She smiled and walked into the room, closing the door behind her. Shinji was mildly surprised as she sat at the foot of his bunk. He rolled over fully and sat-up, looking at her.  
  
  
"Why aren't you eating dinner with the others?" Asuka asked.  
  
  
"Oh...I just...didn't feel like eating, after everything that's happened, you know?"  
  
  
She nodded. "Fighting Angels can take your appetite away, I guess." She swallowed and looked hesitant. "I...I came to apologize." Now Shinji became confused. "Apologize? For what?"  
  
  
She frowned and stared at the ground. "For the way I treated you earlier, I'm sorry." "Why would you be sorry?" Asuka looked at him in shock. "I treated you like crap, and I hardly know you. I had no right to do that."  
  
  
Shinji shook his head. "It's alright, Asuka. Everyone treats me like crap, I'm used to it." She stared at the boy incredulously. "Shinji, that's not right. No one should treat you like crap."  
  
  
He shook his head. "No, it-" He was cut off as she placed a finger over his lips.  
  
  
"Shinji, let me tell you something. When I was six, my mother killed herself," Shinji grew wide-eyed at this, "and I found the body. Ever since then, I've...I don't know...tried to compensate for the pain I felt by acting like a major bitch. I've been obnoxious and arrogant to everyone around me, even to total strangers like you."  
  
  
She removed her finger and instead placed her hand on his shoulder. "But today, when I got hit with the power surge and blacked out, it made me realize that I was mean to you for no reason. I'm sorry about that."  
  
  
"A-alright." It was the best response Shinji could come up with, at the moment.  
  
  
"And," Asuka continued, "I want to start over. I don't want to be antagonistic towards you." She took her free hand and held it out to Shinji. "Friends?"  
  
He smiled and took her hand. "Friends. And...I'm sorry about your mother."  
  
She smiled back. "Thank you." Still holding his hand, she twisted her fingers around so that she was clasping his hand instead of shaking it.  
  
  
Giving his hand a gentle squeeze, Asuka said, "By the way, I'm new to Tokyo-3. Do you think that maybe, after school on Saturday, you'd like to take me on a tour of the city?"  
  
  
Not believing what he was hearing, the stunned Shinji managed a weak nod.  
  
  
"Good. And maybe afterwards, we could get dinner and go to a movie or something."  
  
  
Shinji stopped breathing. "You mean, like a date?" He asked, blushing.  
  
  
Asuka smiled again as she got up and headed towards the door. "Of course like a date, baka. What else did you have in mind?"   
  
  
As she headed out the door, she stopped and turned. "I'm staying in the NERV barracks for now until I can get permanent housing. Pick me up at 3:00, okay?"  
  
  
Still stunned, Shinji could merely nod.  
  
  
"Good, see you then." Feeling extra playful, Asuka decided to blow him a kiss. She watched in satisfaction as he simultaneously passed out and developed a nose-bleed.  
  
***  
  
I may or may not continue this. I basically wanted to explore what a re-telling of the series with the *real* Asuka, the Asuka from EOE who knew that her mother was alive in Unit-02 and was super self-confident, in the place of the uberbitch mask that Asuka wore throughout the TV series that caused her to treat Shinji like a piece of crap.  
  
Basically, I just wanted to get feedback to this before deciding to commit to a massive project like this.   
  
Cheers,   
  
W*ING Higley 


End file.
